Santi White (a.k.a. Santogold) debut album: “Santogold” is in one word good!. Interesting sounds, some pop, some reagge, some glam, and some voice!… my favorite song is L.E.S Artistes and Creator. Creator is quite unique, at the beginning it used to annoy me, but after few plays I became a fan. It is hard for me to compare her with anybody else, perhaps some Macy Gray and some Cocorosie… but then again perhaps not!…
You can’t miss the first 30 seconds of this song. I don’t care if you don’t like the rest but the first 30 seconds are amazing. I actually like the song, but it may have something to do about the context I listened it. The band is Dresden Dolls, which I’ve liked some of the stuff they’ve done in the past. I particularly enjoyed their version of David Bowie’s Life in Mars in the Contamination: A Tribute To David Bowie album (I actually blogged about the original song before)
I spotted the song while watching weeds episode 5 of the current season (season 3 that is). I was watching it last night and both the lyrics and the music were so dead on what was going on in the show.
They have a bunch stuff free at their website.
Girl Anachronism
Life on Mars by DD
Life on Mars by Bowie and Arcade Fire
What a great song!…
Placebo is one of those bands that I haven’t bought anything but every time I hear a song from them I say that’s a cool song. I was watching tonite’s episode of CSI and the last song: Running up That Hill was the closing song for this episode. Great song! So I decided to finally acquire something from them. I got their Meds album, which contains Running up that hill. Can’t talk about the album yet…
It turns out that the song is originally from Kate Bush, published in 1985 in Hounds of Love album. The version is actually quite faithful to the original song, just a lot better. Thank God the background chorus from the original song were remade and with a lot of style I may add.
Placebo’s version
Kate Bush’s version
The band in question is The Bravery, and am guessing they were not expecting this review. For example:
Every Word Is a Knife in My Ear”, an utterly unsexy, castrated version of “Take Me Out”, wouldn’t even be plausible as a sticker on a goth teenager’s bookbag– let alone as a relatable relationship grievance
After reading this review you can’t possibly not feel compelled to listen to the album. Luckily the album is available for listening on their website (I was worried I’d have had to pay for it). I heard the first song Believe, and can’t say I found it that bad. But then I went and listened to track 5 Bad Sun, my God!, quite annoying song - couldn’t stand the cheapness of it, especially the whistling. Then I went back and listened to one of the track mentioned in the review “Every Word is a Knife in My Ear” - Geez! - it is true, the track is terrrible - not sure about the lyrics, I wasn’t paying close attention. I got it. It’s bad.
Spoon’s latest album is even better than their last one Gimme Fiction. They have a very unique-their own style. I really like how their use the piano in the background of their songs. Their lyrics keep being superb; KUDOS to them.
I could talk more about this album, but every review I’ve read so far will give you better insight than I can.
Enjoy
The Ghost of you lingers
My little Japanese cigarette case
The Underdog
There is this album that I really liked and I had acquired, and then lost, and then reacquired. The album is Formica Blues, the only album released (actually there were two releases of the same album) from british band Mono; thus the reason I had never heard back from them again. I traced the lead singer: Siobahn De Mare (e with tilde) to this rather obscure band called Violet Indiana. Just out of curiosity I downloaded the first song from Roulette (released in 2001): Air Kissing. Good tune, got excited and downloaded the whole album, dumb mistake! The album is just plain flat, nothing much happens anywhere, it is like listening over and over to the same song. Not quite what I was expecting, after some people (fans?) rave’d about it. There are a couple, ok maybe three, songs that worth the effort of tuning in and listening carefully.
They have a couple of more albums out: Russian Doll released in 2004, and Casino in 2002. Not sure if there are still together or not… oh, yes, I don’t really care.
damn… i found this review at pitchfork…
Life in Mono from Formica Blues
Air Kissing
Little Echo
I love to hear rock music (especially the hard variety) sung in languages I don’t really understand. I never understood what Ozzy, Dickinson, or Hetfield were gabbing about anyway. So why not enjoy the feeling of exotica listening to hard shit sung in languages all over the tower?
A relatively recent favorite such find is Noir Désir, a French rock band that’s been around for a while. I love their electronica/punk tinged hard rock sung in the loveliest of languages with hard guitar riffs. I have a couple of their albums and am trying to find more though Amazon carries only imports. I guess I’ll have to convince the wife why I have a sudden need to go to Bordeaux. Random iPod plays of their music recently have brought out interested eyebrow raising reactions from some fellow bloggers. Unfortunately, they may not be making more music for a while as their lead singer, Bertrand Cantat beat his girlfriend Marie Trintignant unconscious during an argument in a hotel room in Lithuania. She died a few days later. A Lithuanian judge sentenced Cantat to eight years in prison after he was found guilty of manslaughter. A true rock star!
I have tried to educate y’all about Mallu rock before but I should also mention some other international superstars in the genre of rock music that I really dig (all music links below courtesy of youtube.com):
I recently acquired Bowie’s collaboration with Arcade Fire recorded live at Fashion Rocks. It only has three songs. In this album there is a version of “Life on Mars?”, and what an odd song that is. As I was listening to it the lyrics made no sense to me. So I searched for the lyrics, only to find out that indeed they don’t make any sense. There are comparisons to as if Dali would have written the lyrics. I can see why, I mean :
Sailors fighting in the dance hall
Oh man! Look at those cavemen go
It’s the freakiest show
Take a look at the Lawman
Beating up the wrong guy
Oh man! Wonder if he’ll ever know
He’s in the best selling show
Is there life on Mars?
Sometimes it is hard to realize how much history and thoughtfulness can be behind a song that at first glance would not make you think that is the case. By doing some more digging I came across this history behind the song itself, and at least some things start making sense. I find great the parody to Frank Sinatra and my way, it does come up, even without knowing the history behind it.
making sense?… as I was reading the link above I noticed the Flaming Lips had made a cover. Nothing can prepare you for this version, if you thought the song itself was weird I invite you to hear (experience) the Flaming Lips version.
Bowie/Arcade Fire version
Flaming Lips
More pop, I guess everybody is getting ready for the summer. The turn is for 1990s, the sort of ska-punk-pop-ish from Glasgow whose new single See You at the Lights was made available today in preparation for the US album release of “Cookie” sometime in July. The tune is good and catchy, a little too much like Franz Ferdinand, Hard Fi, and the new wave of brit bands.
Of course they have a myspace page with some of their older stuff, which is a bit more punk than this new song, and pretty interesting, very raw.
“See you at the lights” is available at their myspace page and also here…
In the last episode of HBO’s Entourage the first song stuck in my head. The band is called “The Rosewood Thieves” and the song played in the episode is “Los Angeles”. The band is fairly new, having only one album From the Decker House. There is little information about these guys. The best source I found here.
The release album has only six songs, and you can here four of them at their myspace page. They are all good. I’ve just ordered the album, tell you more after I get it.
Enjoy Los Angeles…
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